No saving me now
by Necromancy
Summary: Read, and when I'm done with the fic, rr to tell me if it made you cry or if you came close to it. CHAPTER 7! more reveiws always help!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the people in Charmed, the people that created it do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------  
  
"Night, little brother." Chris said to a sleeping baby Wyatt. Piper walked p behind him.  
"Hey, I thought you were the little brother." She said, putting her hand on his shoulder, looking in the crib at her son.  
"Well, in the future I am, but that was never any fun so I'm gonna take full advantage of this once in a life time opportunity." Piper smiled.  
"That makes sense. I wish I could have said good night to him."  
"I said good night for you." Chris smiled at her.  
"Well, thank you. So, did everything go well? No demon attacks? He didn't try orbing?"  
"Everything went great, not one, and he was an angel." The two walked into Piper's room.  
"Well, that's good. I'm sorry that you had to baby-sit, Chris."  
"Its no problem, its not like I have any friends or anything better to do."  
"That's the way to look at it." she picked up a few cloths off the ground and put them on hangers. They started to walk out into the living room. "Phoebe should be home soon from her date, and Paige will not be home tonight, she decided to spend the night at Richards."  
"Oh, ok. "Even Chris knew what that meant which made him hope even more that there would be no demon attacks tonight, that's the last thing he wanted to orb in on. Piper started to look around the kitchen for any messes.  
"Don't worry, I cleaned up a bit."  
"Its so..clean! How did you have time to do this?"  
"Wyatt was bein' good so he helped me clean."  
"You two are gonna be fun to live with when you get older."  
"Yeah, you wish we would help you around the house." Piper ran he finger under the water and flicked some at Chris. "Hey now! You wouldn't want to get this nice kitchen all dirty now would you?" the water was still running so he gave a small flick of his hand and the water hit her from behind.  
"That's personal game! Do I teach you nothing?" She flicked more and more water on him.  
"I'm sorry, mother." Piper flicked more water. "That's not fair! I have no weapons!"  
She flicked more. "To bad." She smiled at the victory she was holding but Chris ran over to the fridge and pulled out potato soup. "You wouldn't!" Piper said, she stopped flicking.  
"Oh, wouldn't I?" he asked with a smile, the victory was at hand for him now. "Surrender." Piper said nothing. Chris dipped his fingers in the soup and flicked them at her then laughed.  
Piper looked angry. "You didn't!" she picked up the sprayer from the sink and put it on full force, soaking Chris.  
The two laughed as Piper soaked him and he threw all sorts of food at her.  
"Hi everyone." Phoebe walked in and saw the mass. "What are you two doing!?" she yelled. They both looked at Phoebe, stopping their attacks, then to each other and smiled. "Oh-oh no! No, no, no, no, no!" they both did a battle scream and fired at Phoebe, laughing. When they stopped, Phoebe looked horrible and sat there with a pissed look on her face.  
"Is that Wyatt I hear crying?" Piper said with a smile to nothing and walked by her. Chris walked up and patted her on the shoulder.  
"You really shouldn't play wish your food, Pheebs." He walked away with a smile, headed upstairs to clean up.  
"You know I'll get you both back for this!" she yelled. Her eyes widened as she realized; both bathrooms were going to be taken up. "Oh, damn! What did I do to you guys?"  
  
I have another story running at the same time as this one, but I plan to keep up with them both, so tell me what you think. And this was just a little fun chapter. I'll get to the real stuff next time. 


	2. Phoebe's revenge

Piper woke up the next morning, it was still early, but it was always good to get a head start. But something felt wrong, wet, and mushy. She opened her eyes and screamed in pain. Piper shot up and tried to wipe her eyes but something else simply fell in them. She felt around to use the bed sheet but they were all wet and mushy with something so she quickly got up out of it and used the curtains to wipe whatever was in her eyes out. When she opened them everything was still blurry.  
"They get you too?" Chris was in the door, covered in white stuff.  
"What the hell is all over you?"  
"Whipped cream." He said with a hint of anger in his voice.  
"No."  
"She said she would get us back."  
"Then why did you say 'they?'"  
"Leo helped."  
"He what?"  
"Yea..."  
"Then why do my eyes burn if I just got a little whipped cream in them?"  
Phoebe popped up. "Ha! I got you two good!" she said with a big smile and a loud, happy voice.  
"You blinded me!"  
"I what?" she asked, happy and smile gone.  
"Yea, what else did you use other then whipped cream."  
"Well, we kinda ran out so we used some of Leo's shaving cream."  
"On my face?"  
"No, we didn't put anything on your face..you must have rolled over."  
  
"Where did Leo get the time to help you with this?" Chris asked, but Piper had yelled in anger and began to chase Phoebe around the house. "Wait! Piper, if your blind then you shouldn't-"to late, her heard a loud "bang." "Piper?" he ran down to see whipped cream all over the house with a broken vase on the ground. "Piper! Phoebe!"  
"Get back here! You made me brake that!"  
"I didn't make you, you're the one that had to chase me!" Piper still was chasing her and the 'me' Phoebe had said came with a scream because Piper had almost got her.  
"Ok, you guys are gonna brake something more important or get really hurt!" Chris realized that he had no place to talk, he and Wyatt would always do this, and it seemed like fun to join in, but he knew he was right, Piper needed to clean up, we couldn't have a blind Charmed One. He grabbed Piper, holding her arms down. "How about you go take a shower?" She sat for a moment, glaring at Phoebe who was prepared to run at any moment, but anyone could tell that the two were having fun.  
"Fine" she finally said. "You have to let me go."  
"Do you promise not to attempt to injure me when he does?" Phoebe said with a smile.  
"Yes." Chris let go and Piper went up the stairs, heading for the shower.  
"You gonna take a shower or try to kill me?"  
"I'm gonna change cloths, my hair and face didn't get dirty, guess I don't move around to much in my sleep. I'm gonna clean this mess up when I come back down."  
"Yeah, I have to get to work soon, but I'll clean up," she looks around at the mess. "Some of it. Has Paige come home yet?"  
"I don't think so." He ran up the stairs and Phoebe sighed, going to the kitchen to get a paper towel, or sixty.  
Only about fifteen minutes had passed by and Chris was already back down stairs, dressed and ready. The vase that was broken had been cleaned up, along with almost all of the whipped cream.  
"Can you get the rest if this?" Chris yelled, not knowing where Phoebe was.  
"Yep." He heard her voice call out.  
"Okay, I'm gonna go clean up your mess." He went back up the stairs and began to very carefully take the bed sheets apart then he brought them down to wash. Phoebe walked in, talking fast.  
"Okay, I cleaned everything up, but now I'm late for work, so u might want to take out the trash, it's kind of overflowing. Bye." She then ran out. But it was obvious she didn't even make it out the door.  
"Paige?"  
"No time, incoming! Chris!" Chris came running out.  
"What?"  
"No! You have to let me finish when I want you! Get out of here, its- "but it was to late, five darklighters came in.  
"Five?" Phoebe said. "Darklighters don't work in groups!"  
"My point exactly!" Paige yelled. "Chris get out of here!" He nodded and tried, but all that happened was he turned into orbs and then back into Chris.  
"Something wrong!" he yelled, the darklighters smiled and all fired at him, but he jumped out of the way. Phoebe went hand to hand with one of them, knocking the crossbow out of his hand, but there weren't any weapons near by. Paige tried orbing the crossbows to her, but her powers weren't working either.  
"Piper!" Phoebe yelled. It took a few minutes of trying their best to kill the darklighters with no weapons, keeping Chris as far away as possible until Piper came running down the stairs.  
"Don't go into the living room!" Paige yelled.  
"We think the darklighters have a spell on it!" Phoebe said, flipping a darklighter onto the ground.  
"Darklighters don't use magic!"  
"We know! Just, blow them up okay!" Piper did as she was told and sent out a blast, but as soon as it hit a darklighter, he was thrown back, but he didn't die. She tried again and again but nothing happened. Five more darklighters came in and circled around Paige Phoebe and Chris, they held up their crossbows and fired. Three going into Phoebe, two going into Paige, but seven going into Chris. 


	3. Darklighters return

Chris was laying down on the couch with a blanket spread over him, he was sweating and breathing hard with blood seeping through his bandages to the blanket. Phoebe and Paige sat in chairs next to him with bandages and their wounds were not bleeding near as badly.  
  
"LEO!" Piper called for about the hundredth time. "I could care less about what your doing Up There! You get down here and heal Chris!" There was no response for at least ten more minutes but finally Leo orbed down.  
  
"Piper, what is it? The Elders are in a very important meeting right now."  
  
"Well, its about time! And right now I don't care if you are all stopping the world from blowing up! Paige and Phoebe need healing and Chris needs it really bad!"  
  
"Why? Was there an attack?"  
  
"Group of darklighters, now, come." She lead him into the living room.  
  
"There was a group?"  
  
"Big one." Leo walks in to see the mess everywhere with the girls and their bandages and Chris already looking sick."  
  
Leo walked over to all of them and looked worried at Chris. "He shouldn't be this sick already."  
  
"Well, he did have seven hit him, and what took you so long?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"It was that big of a group?"  
  
"They used magic too, now heal him!"  
  
"Darklighters don't use magic."  
  
"Yeah, we know, now heal him!" Piper urged him. Leo placed his hands over the half asleep Chris and they glowed. After about a minute there was no improvement.  
  
"What's wrong?" Piper asked, worry in her voice.  
  
"He wont heal." Leo said with great confusion.  
  
"Won't heal?" Paige repeated. Leo reached over and began to heal her while talking.  
  
"I don't know whats wrong, I need to talk to the Elders about this."  
  
"And just let him die like this?"  
  
He moves to heal Phoebe. "He won't die. Ill make the trip short, Ill ask questions about darklighters forming groups and Ill be back before he gets any worse." Before anyone can protest, he orbs out.  
  
"Okay, he needs a serious talking to!" Phoebe says angrily.  
  
"Well, he comes second, my son comes first." Piper goes over to Chris who has gotten worse within a few minutes.  
  
"Don't u think that if Leo knew about Chris then he would be a little more....willing to help?" Paige said.  
  
Piper shots her an evil glare. "This is not the time for this conversation!" she begins to dab a washcloth at his head. Even though she knew he was sick, Piper still had to ask; "How are you?"  
  
"Super." Chris responds with a weak thumbs up sign. "Where is Wyatt?" Chris didn't even open his eyes to speak.  
  
"He's upstairs, honey. Don't worry about him right now." Phoebe responded with a smile. The three girls walk into the kitchen to talk and to let him rest.  
  
Paige said right away. "Leo right! The poison should not be taking effect so soon!"  
  
"Maybe its because..he was hit by seven arrows!" Phoebe repeated.  
  
"Yeah, maybe." But Paige did not seem convinced.  
  
"Piper!" Chris called out and the three ran into he living room right away but only to see that five darklighters had come back to finish Chris off.  
  
"Leo!" Phoebe called out as they all charged in for the kill. A darklighter went over to Phoebe and tried to throw a punch but she blocked it and hit him in the stomach, then began on another one while Paige watched her back and Piper took up anyone who got in her way of getting to her son. But a thought came to her; "Wyatt! What if some of them went to Wyatt! Paige, orb up and make sure Wyatt is alright!" she demanded.  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"We can handle it, just go!" Paige ran while fighting with Phoebe now backing her up to the stairs and orbed the rest of the way. Piper went to the staircase as well and tried to blow some of them up, but some got flown back while others simply stopped while they absorbed the hit and went back to fighting. "Shit." She whispered then, seeing that this was not helping, joined Phoebe on the battlefield with no way to kill their enemies.  
  
"Leo!" they called out but no response came and their efforts became useless. The darklighters came up from behind and held them down. The leader simply could not resist coming up and showing of.  
  
"Well, The Charmed Ones, finally defeated." He laughed.  
  
"Yeah well, lift this little spell and we'll see if you can beat us. By the way, darklightes, yeah, they don't use magic, so, how were you able to set this up?" Piper asked with her usual 'just try to kill me' tone.  
  
"As much as I would love to answer your question," he got sidetracked. "Almost as much as I would love to kill you." He got back on topic. "But, I cant, strict rules not to, but I have very simple rules to get ride of your second little whitelighter here. Oh and, don't bother calling out to your other one, after all, all magic is put into a barrier here, no magic can be used but our own." He laughed. Piper and Phoebe struggled as many darklighters surrounded Chris. Paige came falling down the stairs.  
  
"Good news," she calld out. "Wyatt is okay." They took her and put her by her sisters.  
  
"I don't think its Wyatt their after." Phoebe said and they watch the darklighters get closer to Chris.  
  
"You just found out?" the leader said with a smile and a laugh. Chris watches with a daze and orbs out and they all become angered. "He was supposed to be to weak to orb!" the leader yelled, and they all shimmed out.  
  
"Where did he orb to?" Piper said, going up to the couch.  
  
"He shouldn't have done that." Paige said.  
  
"Well, what else was he supposed to do?" Piper said.  
  
"He is to weak, orbing could kill him!"  
  
"The more reason to find him before the darklighters do! Phoebe, try a premonition!"  
  
"Okay." She said quietly and quickly puts her hands on the couch to concentrate. After a minute she takes a sharp breath in and opens her eyes. "Okay, he didn't orb anywhere specific, just orbed wherever he could, which is in the same place we found that beautiful sword in the rock."  
  
They all orb in and find Chris, laying on the ground, curled up in a little ball. Phoebe and Piper and Paige run up to him.  
  
"That really hurt him." Phoebe says, pointing out the obvious. "We need to get him back." Obvious again. Paige walks up and orbs them all back to the manor. 


	4. The Dream

A/N: Finally! It is updated! School man for keeping me away from updating for so long, but now that I have some free time; TA-DA! Hope you enjoy.  
  
Piper held Wyatt in her arms, making sure that if the darklighters came back again then he would be right with her so she wouldn't have to worry. She tried her best to keep him from looking at his dying older brother but Wyatt continued to orb over to the cough and try to see what was wrong. Phoebe and Paige kept a close eye on Chris, trying their best to make him comfortable while Leo came back and forth from the Elders only to tell them that he had no information. Piper was not able to sit still so she busied herself with cooking or playing with Wyatt.  
  
Leo orbed in and the three ran over to him, even though they didn't have much hope.  
  
"Find anything?" Paige asked anyway.  
  
"Yeah, there hasn't been any darklighter sightings before the attack on Chris or after. The darklighters were planing this."  
  
"Well, we knew that they had it planed, it was obvious." Piper responded.  
  
"But if they haven't attacked sense last time, then that means their waiting for something." Phoebe said.  
  
"Yeah, for Chris to die." Piper said.  
  
"Why didn't anyone notice the lack of darklighters?" Paige asked.  
  
Leo shrugged. "Guess they didn't think it was a big deal. They probably thought it was a good thing."  
  
"Well it wasn't." Piper said angrily.  
  
"Its to late to do anything about it now."  
  
"Have they figured out why he can't be healed?" Phoebe said.  
  
"No, we don't know about that."  
  
Piper sighed. "Then we have nothing. He needs to be healed!"  
  
"Well, I feel loved." They all turned and saw that Chris was sitting up, holding his side with a small smile.  
  
"Chris! You need to lie down. Your sick, you can't just get up every time you want to!" Piper said as she rushed over to him.  
  
"Don't worry M-"Chris remember that his father was in the room and still didn't know about him, not that he really wanted Leo to know. "Piper." He finished sternly. "I'm feeling a lot better." He gave a weak smile.  
  
"I'm sure you are." Paige said sarcastically, seeing right through his lie.  
  
"I realize that you don't like to have people worrying all over you and that you probably have some valuable demon hunting to do, but you have to get better first." She leaned him back down and Chris couldn't help but obey. Who said he didn't like the attention he was getting? The only part he didn't like was the fact that he could get used to it.  
  
"Yes, Mother." Piper laughed at that. "Go to sleep."  
  
"I'm not tired anymore, I've done nothing but sleep."  
  
"And when you're sick you need sleep." Chris wanted to fight her on that, but he felt to weak. Sleeping wasn't going to cure this sickness but everyone wanted to fool themselves into thinking a little bed rest would make everything okay.  
  
"I'm going to go back with the Elders, see what else I can find out." He orbed and the girls went right back expecting an attack at any moment.  
  
DEMON CAVE  
  
"How is he?" a dark voice asked a demon.  
  
"The boy is fighting the poison, but he will not be able to for long. It is starting its ultimate attack now." The demon responded.  
  
"Good."  
  
MANOR  
  
"Maybe the Elders are holding out on us." Paige said. She was sitting at the kitchen table, watching Piper as she put in her fifth batch of cookies.  
  
"Why would they do that, Paige?"  
  
"Because. Maybe they think that if he about to die, then he'll spill everything and then they will save him."  
  
"I think that goes against the 'Elder Code of Honor.'" Piper said with a small smile.  
  
The smile soon faded when Phoebe came running in, saying that they needed to come look at Chris. Chris was sleeping, but he was now mumbling and moving in his sleep. They couldn't understand his words, but his movements slowly became faster and his voice louder.  
  
CHRIS'S DREAM  
  
Chris was sneaking around a factory. It was dark, making it hard to see in front of him. Small streams of light came through and he tried to stay in those while he walked with his knees half bent. His breathing was heavy and fast and he tried looking at the ceiling but it was to dark to see. There seemed to be no way out of the metal maze. He turned the corner and he noticed that he was holding a long knife. He looked at it with great confusion but soon ignored it when he heard footsteps.  
  
Chris looked around but could see no one. The footsteps stopped and he sat still, waiting to see if they would start back up again. He waited a minute then suddenly the machine he had been crouched beside ripped open by a man who had a butcher knife. The man made a wild stab for Chris's head but Chris ducked and sat there, looking up at this man. His breathing became faster than it had even been as this man with a frighteningly large body stood over him. He had greasy hair that covered his face, and he once again made a swing for Chris's head.  
  
He ducked and scrambled to get away. At first on his knees, but then he moved onto his feet at continued to run and the man followed. Chris turned corner after corner, looking behind him. It seemed that no matter how fast he ran, this man could always keep up by only walking. Soon enough there came a dead end and Chris turned to see his killer walk closer.  
  
"What do you want?" he said, his voice now shaking. There was no response. Chris was never one for trying to talk to a murder, so he flew his arm out but nothing happened. "What the hell?" he tried again and again but nothing happened. The man came closer so Chris stabbed him in the side of the neck but that didn't help at all. This monster didn't even flinch. Chris let go of the handle to his knife and took a few steps back, looking as no blood fell from the wound on his neck. The demon brought his arm up above his head and brought it down, hitting Chris in the side. He pulled out the knife and Chris fell over, bleeding terribly, screaming in pain. His arm went up again and came back down this time hitting the leg, another scream of pain, then the demon hit Chris's shoulder, a scream of pain, and finally it hit the neck, killing the young boy.  
  
MANOR  
  
Chris sat up screaming in a cold sweet, breathing at the same pace.  
  
"Chris! Oh my god!" Phoebe said as the three tried calming him down, trying to stop his insane screaming. Finally he calmed down and lay on his back.  
  
"It's just a dream," he muttered through heavy breathing. "Just a dream, just a dream. I didn't die, I'm alive."  
  
"Oh god." The three looked at Chris's side, his shoulder and his neck, which was now bleeding uncontrollably.  
  
"How is he still alive? LEO!" Piper yelled. Paige ran back in with wet washcloths and dry ones. They applied pressure, which made Chris inhale sharply. He didn't let out even a small scream, which was surprising, because having pressure applied to such a deep wound was very painful. His pride would not allow him to show his family how much pain he was in. When the bleeding finally stopped, they wrapped the cloth around his wounds.  
  
"Why aren't I dead?" he asked over and over.  
  
"We don't know, honey. LEO!" It didn't take long for Leo to orb down.  
  
"Oh god, Chris. What happened?"  
  
"We don't know, he was just sleeping and these wounds appeared." Phoebe said, close to tears with the sight of so much blood coming from her nephew.  
  
"I was dreaming. Someone stabbed me in these exact same places!" Chris said, fear coming up in his voice. Leo rushed over and tried to heal him, but once again nothing would heal. "What's wrong?" Tears now formed in his eyes, as the pain became overwhelming.  
  
"You won't heal. For some reason you won't die either."  
  
"That's a good thing" Piper tightened the cloth on his shoulder and he winced in pain. "To a certain extent."  
  
"We need to get him healed." Piper said, looking at her son who looked back into her eyes and a tear ran down both of their faces.  
  
"What do you think we should do, Piper?" Leo said, getting a little annoyed at everyone saying that like it was his fault. "We can't bring him to a hospital and he can't be healed."  
  
"Well there has to be a way." She shot him a glare and the two held their looks, staring down.  
  
"If there is, we'll find it." Leo said, meaning the Elders.  
  
"Well then you best get looking." They held that stare for one more moment before he orbed 'Up There.'  
  
"I can't believe he would get so mad like that." Paige said.  
  
"He doesn't care I guess." Chris said.  
  
"He cares, honey. You don't have to worry about that. He just doesn't know what to do." Phoebe said with a smile.  
  
"He doesn't have to care." Chris said like a child.  
  
The girls looked at each other and gave small laughs at the tone of his voice. "Get some sleep." Piper repeated.  
  
"It was sleep that did this to me."  
  
"Just try." She couldn't think of anything else to say or do, but wait and hope for good news that her son could be saved. 


	5. Figuring Things Out

CHRIS'S DREAM  
  
"Night, Mom." Chris said. He was lying in a big bed, in his own room in the manor, the covers pulled up to his chin.  
  
"Night, sweetie." Piper responded to her son. She sat next to him, smiling happily and brushing hairs from his face. She gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead, treating him like a child. But Chris didn't mind. Motherly love was something he hadn't had in a while.  
  
Piper got up, turned out the light and shut the door. Chris smiled and closed his eyes for sleep, and in his happiness, did not hear Piper lock the door behind her.  
  
Hours later while her son slept silently, Piper slowly came inside his room, careful not to wake him. She then held up a lighter in her hand. She lit it and lit the tablecloth on his desk on fire, his curtains, and last his bed sheets.  
  
"Mom?" Chris asked, slowly opening his eyes. Piper looked at him and smiled a big motherly smile, full of love.  
  
"Go back to bed, dear."  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting up sleepily. "Mom!" he shouted, noticing the fires that were now growing quite large. "What are you doing?" he asked again, fear rising in his voice.  
  
"Sorry, sweetie, but your evil. And I have to vanquish evil, you know that." With the same sweet smile, Piper walked out of the room, locking the door behind her.  
  
"Mom! MOM!" he shouted as the fires were now raging around him, forming one large pile of heat and smoke. Chris began to cough as the smoke got to him, and his body felt like it was about to explode from the heat. "Mom!" he continually shouted. The fire reached his feet, burning them, moving up his legs. "MOM!" he shouted one last time before he could say nothing more from the smoke lodged in his throat. His body burning.  
  
MANOR  
  
"Chris! Wake up!" Paige shouted, shaking her nephews burning body as he lay on the cough. Piper and Phoebe were calling his name as well, but Chris would not wake up, muttering "Mom" over and over. Fear, confusion, anger in his voice. But most of all sadness with tears running down his cheeks.  
  
Finally, he stopped moving altogether and the girls looked at him, knowing he was dead. Then Chris came back to life. Springing forward, screaming as he did the first time he had a dream where he died.  
  
"Chris! Thank god!" Piper yelled and reached over to hug him, even though his body was burned beyond belief, with blood running from his knife wounds from his earlier dream. But Chris scrambled away form her, trying to disappear within the cough to get away. Piper looked confused. "Sweetie?" she asked.  
  
"Stay away form me!" he yelled, getting a flashback of her sweet smile as she burned his room.  
  
"Chris, whats wrong?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"She tried to kill me!" he shouted, never taking his eyes off his mother.  
  
"No! That was a dream, Chris. You were dreaming that." His aunt tried to reason.  
  
His breathing was fast, his eyes wide as he looked between his to aunts and his mother, trying to process what was going on. The dream was so real, he was even hurt. How could it be a dream?  
  
"Come on, Chris, Remember." Paige urged.  
  
Who could remember when right now it felt like you were still on fire? Just now realizing the great deal of pain he was in, Chris cried out and slumped back on the cough. There was no stopping the fire that was eating away at his body.  
  
"Leo!" Paige yelled. The girls tried to comfort him but he kept his eyes shut as tight as they could be, like that would help in some way. And he seemed to know Piper's touch, and whenever she tried to comfort her son, he would freak out and his fear would overtake the terrible pain as he would yell for her to get away.  
  
Finally Piper left the comforting up to her sisters as they used water and ice to try and cool him down. Surprisingly, steam would raise form his body when the cold would tough it, like he truly was on fire.  
  
"What happened?" he asked.  
  
"Chris is on fire!" Phoebe shouted.  
  
"What?" Leo rushed to Chris's side. "He doesn't look like it." he said confused.  
  
"It's his dreams. They're doing something to him." Paige said.  
  
Healing, once again, didn't work.  
  
"I'm going to ask Gideon." Leo said. "His healing is more powerful than mine; maybe he can help." With that, he orbed out.  
  
"Who's magic could be strong enough to do this to a person?" Paige asked. The three sat around the kitchen table. Chris's fire seemed to go out, but the burns still stayed.  
  
"And keep him alive." Phoebe added grimly.  
  
"And likes torture." Piper said as well.  
  
"And can bring darklighters together, and teach them to use magic." Paige said.  
  
'The darklighters aren't the ones using magic, the guy that brought them together is using the magic." Phoebe said.  
  
"But who has that kind of power?" Piper asked.  
  
"No one we know."  
  
The girls sighed. "I'll try the book," Phoebe finally said. She stood up and walked off.  
  
"Leo find anything?" Paige asked.  
  
Piper sighed again. "No. There are no darklighters anywhere it seems like. Its like they all just disappeared and are just lying low."  
  
"They are probably being ordered to lye low. Some big bad evil demon."  
  
"Demons are for the more direct approach though."  
  
"Barbus?" Paige asked, her voice unsure. Barbus hadn't tried anything since he had come back.  
  
But Piper looked as if it had just hit her, and that she was surprised she hadn't seen this obvious thing sooner. "Of course! Barbus must know about Chris somehow and is trying to get us off our guard by doing this so that he can come in and kill us!"  
  
"Is he able to bring darklighters together?"  
  
"He was able to talk the tribunal into believing what he said, I can't imagine what he would be able to do to gullible demons."  
  
"So, this is all one big scheme to kill us, or does Barbus what something from Chris?"  
  
"Only one way to find out; Leo! Phoebe! We have a plan!"  
  
AN: sorry this chapter is so short, but I thought this would be a good place to end it. I think you can guess what the plan is, but if you can't, that is great! A even bigger sorry for how damn long this chapter took! My computer got hit by lightning during that huge storm! But, here it is, at last. Keep the reviews coming!!  
  
5 more days left of school!! (-------------------------- Had to say it. 


	6. Talking To Barbus

Phoebe rushed down into the kitchen, and a few minutes later, Leo orbed in as well.  
  
"What's the plan?" he asked.  
  
"Barbus." Piper said simply, as if that explained everything. But that only made Leo more confused.  
  
"Barbus? He hasn't done anything suspicious lately."  
  
"Paige, orb the book down here." Piper ordered, as if she hadn't heard her ex husband.  
  
Paige looked confused as well. "Personal gain?"  
  
"I know, but this is the only time you can." Paige didn't look convinced. "Would you rather walk all the way up to the attic? And besides, you like using magic this way. Now come on!"  
  
Paige shrugged. Her sister was right. She called for the book and it came to her hands in blue orbs.  
  
"Back to Barbus." Leo said.  
  
"Well, he hasn't attacked sense he came back. And only a demon like Barbus could convince demons, or in this case darklighters, to do what he wants. So he poisons Chris do either distract us, or he wants Chris dead for some reason." Piper explained. She made a good point.  
  
"Okay, that's what we think, now, whats your plan?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"We find Barbus." Piper said.  
  
"Okay, not very easy." Paige responded.  
  
"Well, if he is doing something, then every demon will know. We go to the underworld-"Leo cut Piper off right there.  
  
"Wait! The underworld? You have got to be kidding! That is way to dangerous!"  
  
"So? Chris is dying, Leo! We need to take action. We've already waited to long."  
  
"That doesn't mean you should be rash! We can wait a little longer for a better plan!"  
  
"To late. I've made up my mind."  
  
"You have, but we haven't." Paige cut in.  
  
Piper glared at her. "You want him to suffer?" she asked coldly.  
  
"No, but all we have to do is summon him." Silence came in the kitchen. She was right. Why hadn't anyone else thought of that?  
  
"Very good." Phoebe complimented.  
  
"See, I'm good." Paige said, smiling.  
  
"Yes you are, now let's go summon a demon." Piper said shoving past them all.  
  
"Why did you need the book?" Paige asked after her.  
  
"I was gonna make a lot of vanquishing potions so that when we went down there we would be ready, but I don't need it." she called going up the stairs.  
  
The rest followed and Paige was sure to grab the book.  
  
When they arrived in the attic, Piper was already holding the crystals.  
  
"Ready?" she asked.  
  
"I'm not sure if this is such a good idea." Leo was sure to say.  
  
"We've already agreed on this." Piper said. she thought back to the last time she had said that. "Right?" she asked her sisters.  
  
They both nodded. "Yep." Phoebe said.  
  
"Good."  
  
The three prepared and summoned their suspect. They then set up the crystals round him.  
  
"That was easy." Paige was sure to point out.  
  
"Well, well, well, The Charmed Ones. I was wondering when you would call me." Barbus said with a smile.  
  
"Because you've done something wrong." Piper said. it wasn't a question, it was a statement.  
  
"Oh, no, because you three don't seem to like me very much."  
  
"Well, you're a demon who would probably love to kill us." Paige said.  
  
Barbus shrugged. "Yes, yes I would."  
  
"Thanks for being truthful. Now, what have you done to Chris?" Piper asked. She was sure this was he demon, and she was going to get him to spill everything.  
  
"That boy from the future?" his smile grew wider. "Yes, he tried to vanquish me as soon as I got back. His fears were very interesting."  
  
"He did what?" Phoebe asked. "He didn't tell us he was going after you."  
  
"I don't think he really wanted you there." Barbus said mater-of-factly. "He seems more of the type to, think he can do everything on his own."  
  
"Yeah, we already know that. We didn't summon you so you could give us his profile, we called you to tell us what you did to him." Piper cut in, anger showing in her voice.  
  
"Why are you so protective of him, Piper?" Barbus asked. They all knew he was up to something now.  
  
Paige and Phoebe glanced at the eldest sister who stood with her arms folded across her chest, and he eyes fixed on her enemy,  
  
"Do you love him?" he went on. Leo looked over at the women he still loved. Had she forgotten him already? Did she like younger men now?  
  
"What did you do to him?" Piper asked, trying to get off the subject.  
  
But Barbus wasn't good at giving up. "I think you do. You can't just sit back and watch as someone you love dies, now can you?"  
  
"You're getting off the subject-"  
  
"Or maybe I am closer than you want me to be. There is quite an age difference between the two of you, so you couldn't love him in a sexual way. And your protective in a...motherly way." Leo looked shocked, Piper continued to glare, and her sisters looked to each other. He had figured it out. "Yes, that must be it. In a motherly way."  
  
How could Barbus be so confident, so calm when he was face to face with the three women who could easily kill him?  
  
"Piper," Leo asked, looking at her. "Is he right?"  
  
Piper kept her eyes locked on Barbus who was now smiling at her, not even glancing at Leo. "What did you do to my son?"  
  
There it was. She said it. Now Leo knew it was true. That would explain why she was being so protective.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He moved in front of his love so she would have to look at him.  
  
"He didn't want you to know. Can we talk about this later? We have to get him for killing Chris."  
  
Leo sighed. "Fine." There was obviously no fighting her.  
  
"Oh, don't feel bad, Leo." Barbus cut in with a sympathetic tone. "Its not like he considers you much of a father anyway."  
  
Leo turned to the annoying demon. "And why is that?"  
  
"What kind of a father misses almost all of his sons birthdays? Or has never taken him out? But don't worry. I'm sure you have your reasons for ignoring your second born son." He put his finger up, showing that he had figured it out. "That's right! Wyatt. He has more power, so he deserves more attention."  
  
"That's not-"Leo stared but this time Piper cut him off.  
  
"We don't have time for this." She walked over and moved one of the crystals, shocking Barbus. She moved it back. "What did you do to him?"  
  
"I haven't done anything!" he yelled, angered to be hurt. But he quickly regained his calm ways and continued in his slow, evil voice. "He tried to vanquish me, I tapped into his worst fears and left him. There was no use in killing him. His memories alone will do that." He smiled evilly.  
  
Piper moved the crystal again, sending a shock through Barbus. "What did you do to him?"  
  
"Nothing!" he shouted once again. But Piper obviously wasn't believing him. She moved it again and again but Barbus had the same answer each time.  
  
"Um..Piper? I don't think he did anything." Phoebe pointed out.  
  
"I'm sure he's lying." She said.  
  
"I'm not!"  
  
"Well, then do you at least know anything about gathering darklighters?" Paige asked. She moved to Piper and took his sisters shoulders, pulling her back so she would stop harming the demon.  
  
"Oh, that. All you had to do was ask." Barbus said, with half anger and half his usual calmness.  
  
The girls and Leo prepared to listen.  
  
A/N: Ok! Here it is! Hope you enjoy, and as always; Review you beautiful people! Beautiful People; that's a Marilyn Manson song!! 


	7. Getting a Plan

Barbus paused and the girls waited. Leo was obviously wrapped up in his own thoughts, so he did not notice that the Charmed Ones were becoming more and more inpatient.  
  
"Come on, Barbus!" Piper yelled.  
  
"Patience, girl, patience. I would hate to say something that you would confuse for something else."  
  
"Are you calling us stupid?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Oh, no! Of course not. It's so obvious that you're the brains of the power, Phoebe." He replied. With his mellow tone of voice, it was hard to catch how sarcastic he was really being. Phoebe didn't seem to notice until a few minutes after.  
  
Barbus got a good chuckle out of that, and then he decided to move in with his information.  
  
"There is some big shot that came out of no where that's commanding all sorts of demons around." He said shortly.  
  
"Why are the demons listening to him?" Paige pressed for more information. The last thing they needed was Piper becoming angry and vanquishing their lead by accident.  
  
"No one knows. I've talked to demons who swore they would never listen to a word he says, and then they are in his army."  
  
"He must have some kind of hold over all of them." Phoebe said. Her sisters agreed.  
  
"But who could control demons?" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't know," Barbus cut in. "But I do know that I'm staying the hell away from him. If you can go against his control, then he has enormous power. I've heard that all he needs to do is look at a demon and he is vanquished." His voice became bitter and angry as he spoke. Even the great Barbus feared this man who had targeted Chris.  
  
"Okay, so we have power and thousands of demons to go up against." Phoebe said.  
  
"Leo, go see if the Elders have sensed a great deal of energy and haven't taken the time to tell us." Leo didn't move. He didn't want to go he had a lot of questions to ask Piper. But she obviously was not in the mood to talk to him. "Go!" she commanded.  
  
Leo gave in. He could always talk to her later. He orbed Up There and was prepared to force the Elders for information. They had a tendency to hold information for "The greater good."  
  
"So he's down in the underworld?" Piper asked Barbus.  
  
"Yes, where else would he be?" he asked. "Out in the open? No, I'm sure he's waiting to set you all up and kill you."  
  
"Well, that's wonderful. I'm sure he thinks he can do this by killing Chris?" Piper asked.  
  
Barbus shrugged. "I wouldn't know his plans. I stay far away from him, and his allies." There was a silence where everyone thought their own thoughts, but didn't bother to voice them. They could do that as soon as Barbus was gone. For all they knew, he was lying about not being in allegiance with this person.  
  
"There, I've answered all of your questions. Can I go now? I have very urgent matters to attend to." The girls looked at each other, mentally deciding whether they should trust such a terrible demon to be free once again.  
  
In the end, they decided he had been good. They could let him go and vanquish him when they had more time.  
  
They moved the crystals and Barbus smiled. He gave a small bow and was engulfed in flames that took him away.  
  
"Okay, game plan?" Paige asked. The two turned to their eldest sister who had been leading them so far, they figured she already knew what to do.  
  
"We wait for Leo, see if he had any information. We find this guy, get a cure for Chris and then kill him." Piper said, clouded by her need to protect her son. The thought that this threat could kill them without even moving didn't seem to cross her mind, but it did her sisters who were already having second thoughts about this.  
  
"Piper, we don't even know who this guy is. We need to figure out more." Paige reasoned.  
  
"A lackey!" Phoebe said. "We could get a lackey, who would know who he is and what he's doing. Get inside information!"  
  
"Yeah, but how do we luck out and get a lackey?"  
  
"Were you not listening to a word Barbus just said? He had lackeys all over! It must be easy to find one!" Phoebe already had this planned out in her mind. "And he calls me the dumb one." She said.  
  
"Alright. But we can't just go into he underworld." Paige continued, bringing down Phoebe's plan.  
  
"Premonitions." Piper spoke up. "Phoebe, get a premonition off Chris. Next time he has a dream, you intercept the magic that is doing that to him and get a premonition of who is doing it."  
  
"Perfect!" Phoebe said.  
  
"Okay, we have a plan. Now, we wait for Leo." Paige said. The girls headed downstairs. There was nothing more they could do then to wait and hope for a good answer.  
  
Chris was laying down on the couch still. His eyes were staring up at the ceiling, he was refusing to sleep. No matter how tired his body was. The thought 'you can escape the pain if you sleep.' continued to invade his mind. No, sleep is where the pain came from.  
  
"Hey, you feelin' okay?" Phoebe asked her nephew. She kneeled beside him and Chris turned his head to her, smiling.  
  
"Yeah." He said quietly.  
  
Phoebe smiled back, trying to reassure him. "Good. We have a plan to figure out how this is happening, but," she paused. Chris looked at her curiously, urging her to continue. "It involves you sleeping." She didn't want to say that. She didn't want him to sleep and hear his scream in pain again.  
  
The hint of hope disappeared from his eyes. But, if it would make him better, then he would do it.  
  
"Okay," Chris said, nodding. "I'll try. It shouldn't be too heard." Chris's eyes looked over to his other aunt and then to his mother who were both watching him. He still felt fear from his mother. These dreams were real, and she had killed him.  
  
Piper saw the fear, and she felt terrible. She hadn't done anything. All she wanted was for him to get better. But now he was scared of her. One more reason for her to find the bastard who was hurting Chris. "We'll leave you alone, then." Paige said. The three walked out and went into the sunroom. They collapsed onto the furniture.  
  
"Rough day." Phoebe said.  
  
"It's not over yet." Piper said back.  
  
"These things never get over fast enough." Paige put in.  
  
There was a silence where they simply rested. "I feel bad," Piper said out of no where. "For just waiting for Chris to get hurt. I don't know how the evil people stand it."  
  
"Well, maybe because it's not their son they want to hurt. And, they're evil. They don't care." Paige told her sister.  
  
"And it's the best way to get this guy." Phoebe said, trying to comfort her eldest sister.  
  
A few more minutes of silence later, they could hear groaning coming from the living room. It turned into mumbling and then small screams. They rushed in to see Chris was asleep and dreaming once again.  
  
"Perfect." Paige said.  
  
"Leo's not back yet." Phoebe said.  
  
"So? We don't need him. We have our lead right here." Paige said. She rushed over to Chris's side and Phoebe followed, but Piper stayed where she was. Chris was able to recognize her touch, and he might freak out. This might be another dream with her in it.  
  
Phoebe placed her had in her nephews, closed her eyes and concentrated. He often attempted to rip his hand away. He jerked all around, but Phoebe was soon pulled into a premonition.  
  
A/N: Okay, this was kind of a sort, maybe meaningless chapter, but oh well. I updated!!!! 


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